Ad Astra
by V-chan-rides-a-roflcopter
Summary: "The elder, battle-worn man wanted so much to fill the boy's life with knowledge and wonder…as much as he could, anyway, before the flapping child in his lap discovered what it truly meant and felt like to be a Nation." A cute scoop of nostalgia with a Spamano cherry on top! ** Winner of Rome-themed Fanfiction Contest on Facebook! **


**Hola, everyone! I originally wrote this story for a Rome-themed Facebook fanfiction contest, with Spain being the character I run a RP page for! After some thought and research, this was born. I made much effort into making this pretty accurate historically; therefore Nations are using their early names and specific words are in Latin! I think you'll even learn a thing or two- I know I did.**

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**- Around 500 A.D. -**

It was almost dusk. The sun was setting, turning the sky into a beautiful canvas splashed with deep oranges, scarlets, and violets. Rome admired the sight as he made his way up a newer path leading atop a grassy hill, the grass was beginning to lay flat after being pressed down by feet making their way through it regularly. This land was still new to him, one of his most recent conquests. It had great growth potential, Rome thought to himself, he was wise to have gotten a hold of it; with fertile soils, plentiful natural resources, and access to the ocean, this place was a treasure. As the thought crossed his mind, Rome could hear the sounds of crashing waves becoming louder. He smiled to himself.

_'Don't worry, I'm almost there.'_

The main reason Rome was so fond of this new land was not because of the resources it possessed, however beneficial they were to him.

'_But rather…'_ he thought as he finally reached the top of the hill.

'_…because of this little one.'_

As loud footsteps approached and the tall, armor and leather-clad form appeared over the hill's edge, a small figure wearing a flowing and over sized white linen shirt turned to face him. Rome was instantly greeted by a pair of eyes greener than the hill he had just climbed, and a smile; a smile that made Rome question if the sun really was the brightest thing he'd seen that day.

This child.

"_Salve_, Rome~!"

Rome couldn't help but grin back at the smiling little figure before him.

"_Salve, _Hispania~!"

The child stood up on tiny legs and pattered his way over to the larger Nation, his dark brown curls and the red bow around his collar waving in the light ocean breeze. Upon reaching Rome he laughed and hugged his leg, barely reaching above his knee.

"So, whatcha gonna teach me today, Rome~?" The child looked up at him with large, curious eyes.

Rome laughed and plopped down to the ground, scooping the boy into his lap. They hill they were on was overlooking the ocean, and the sun had almost disappeared under the horizon. The sky was just beginning to be covered in an inky black, and the night's first star could be seen some ways away from the sun. Observing this, Rome knew exactly what he could share with the young boy.

"Hey, Hispania. Do you ever look up at the stars at night?"

The boy bounced excitedly and laughed. "Si, all the time~! They're so pretty, I bet they're even prettier than the jewels that _Francia_ likes to brag about!" Rome laughed at this too. That answer was just like him.

And although he knew he hadn't, Rome looked down at the boy in his lap and asked "So, have I told you that you can make shapes from the stars up there? A lot of them! And they all have names and everything!"

The tanned child gasped and immediately looked up at the night sky- evening had continued to settle upon them and tiny sparkles of light now littered the inky black canvas. He started flapping his too-long sleeves in excitement.

"Really?! No, I didn't know that~! Tell me 'em, tell me 'em!"

Rome laughed loudly at the boy's actions, his excitement was contagious! He then took the boy's tiny right hand in his own and pulled out his pointer finger, guiding it skyward with his own hand. "Alright, here we go! Now, if you look closely, you can make all kinds of figures from these stars! They're called _astrum._"

"As…trum! Got it!"

Rome trailed off and searched for the first shape he could find. "Ah, here's a good one! Do you see this triangle here?" Rome traced a triangle out of a spot of stars to their right.

"I do!"

"That's the head of a man! And here are his legs…and this part over here is a cup!" Rome traced all this with the boy's tiny finger, linking the stars to one another. "Do you see it, Hispania~?"

"Si, I do!" The boy started bouncing excitedly again. "Why is there a guy with a cup up there~?"

Rome laughed. "Well, that man brings the nectar to Jupiter himself! So he needs that cup!"

"Si, that makes sense!"

"Maybe I should get my own little cup boy, si~?" Rome winked down at the child in his lap.

"Hmm?" The child looked up at him and smiled innocently. "Well, I guess it'd be nice to get drinks really quickly! But they'd have to make extra sure not to spill it!"

Rome just chuckled and shook his head. "Ahaha, any how…"

Pointing the boy's finger to the sky once again, Rome painted new people and creatures onto the evening canvas, further amazing the small boy on his lap. The boy had never imagined such things as this himself, just as he had never imagined those things Rome called aqueducts, or baths, or hard roads. Whenever he could, Rome would come up to his special spot and share with him something new. The elder man wanted so much to fill the boy's life with knowledge and wonder…as much as he could, anyway, before the flapping child in his lap discovered what it truly meant and felt like to be a Nation…

Rome cleared his head of the beginnings of depressing thoughts and patted the boy's head.

"Hey Hispania, did you know~? I have two grandsons, and they're both even smaller and cuter than you! Well, sometimes the older one isn't so-"

"Si, si, you've told me already. Lots of times!" The boy reluctantly tore his gaze away from the new and fascinating _astrum_ and looked up at Rome with a pout. "I don't wanna hear about them right now…"

Rome laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. "But hey, do me a favor! If you ever happen to run into them, could you please be their friend? They're pretty small you know, so I don't want them talking to just anybody! Especially my little Roma…please be extra nice to him!"

"Si, I suppose~" The boy was a bit jealous of these grandsons that Rome was always talking about. He wished he had someone that was fond of him the way Rome was obviously so fond of them. He wondered if he could actually be their friend if he met them.

Rome looked down at the boy currently lost in thought and smiled. He could sense that this curious and tiny thing would develop into a great Nation in the years to come.

'_Maybe not as great as me, but still pretty great_!'

He was looking forward to seeing just what he, as well as little Francia and that boy of Germania's, would become.

Rome looked out towards the dark and surrounding ocean for a moment before smiling and taking a hold of the boy's tiny hand, pointing it toward the sparkling celestial bodies above them yet again.

"So! _Pisces _aren't only in the water you know~!"

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**-Present Day-**

"You bastard, the hell are we doing out here? It's dark! And you're making me climb a damn hill?!"

"It's just a little further, Roma! Listen, you can already hear the ocean~!"

The tall Spanish Nation laughed and ran ahead of the smaller Italian one, the moonlight casting a long shadow from his body to the extremely worn path under his feet. Upon reaching the top of the hill he sat down, turned around to look down at the adorably annoyed man making his way up, and patted the grass beside him. "Come on Roma, come sit with me~!"

"I'll get there when I get there!" the Italian Nation huffed. Upon reaching the top of the hill he was about to start complaining over the climb, but then he felt the cool ocean breeze and looked out at the view- it was beautiful, with the ocean stretching eternally away from them and the moon and stars seeming to shine brighter than usual. Realizing after a minute or two that he had just been standing there spacing out, he shook his head and sat down roughly next to the Spaniard who had brought him to this place.

"So what gives, _bastardo_?"

But Spain didn't answer immediately; instead he seemed to be scanning the sky for something specific. Upon finding it, he let out an excited gasp and took a hold of Romano's right hand, pulling out his slender index finger.

"What are you-"

"Hey, Roma? There's this certain triangle in the sky, do you see it? It's here-" The Spanish man lifted the Italian's finger up and traced the sparkling shape in the sky. "It's part of a certain constelación-"

"Aquarius, right?" Romano interrupted, instantly recognizing the shape Spain was referring to.

"That's right~"

"Of course I see it, my nonno used to…to…"

Romano trailed off as the familiar situation suddenly sparked a certain centuries-old memory- A much smaller version of himself was looking towards the heavens, but with a different older Nation beside him. He blinked, and then looked from his outstretched finger to the face of the man who was holding it. Spain gave a gentle smile, his verdant eyes twinkling knowingly in the moonlight.

Romano's eyes began to prickle with tears before he gave a small "Hmph!" and quickly turned his head away from the man next to him. Spain smiled and gave Romano's finger a gentle squeeze.

"…I miss that bastard."

"Ahaha~ Me too."

**End.  
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Some translations-

_Salve- _Hello  
_Astrum-_ Constellations  
_Pisces-_ Fish  
_Nonno- _Grandfather

And that's my tale! Thanks for giving this a read, and let me know if you liked what you saw! Also: **a cookie for anyone who might know why I picked Aquarius as the constellation** **mentioned.**


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